British man sentenced to two and a half years for SIM swap scam involving theft of $265,000 in cryptocurrency.

October 9: City of London Police stated that 25-year-old Ajay Shinjin has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his involvement in a SIM-swap fraud, a case involving the theft of nearly £200,000 (approximately $265,000) in cryptocurrency. Shinjin received more than £44,000 of the proceeds, and he had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and transferring criminal property.

In November 2021, UK telecom operator BT discovered that a customer's mobile phone number had been unauthorizedly transferred to a SIM card controlled by criminals. The criminals used this to intercept one-time verification codes sent by banks and crypto platforms via SMS. After BT traced the devices receiving the relevant numbers, police identified multiple suspects, four of whose devices were linked to Shinjin.

Data from anti-fraud agency Cifas shows that unauthorized SIM-swap cases recorded in the UK National Fraud Database increased by 402% year-on-year in the first half of 2026. Cifas said such methods are increasingly being used to intercept security verification codes and bypass account protection measures.